Kriti Mehrotra
As a documentary series exploring every aspect of the many July 2005 bombings in England’s capital, Netflix’s ‘Attack on London: Hunting The 7/7 Bombers’ is quite intriguing. It comprises not only archival footage but also exclusive interviews with politicians, law enforcement officials, survivors, and loved ones alike to underscore the gravity of what had transpired. Amongst the latter was Azuma Lebene Wundowa, who sadly lost her 50-year-old mother Gladys Wundowa in the bus explosion in Tavistock Square, Central London, on July 7.
Azuma Wundowa Still Remembers Her Last Moments With Her Mother
It was reportedly around 1989 that Azuma Wundowa was born to Gladys Ama and Emmanuel Wundowa as the eldest of their two children, followed by her brother Zakari Wundowa two years later in 1991. The truth is these siblings grew up as London natives from a proud working-class family, yet they do have significant Ghanaian roots since that’s where their mother hailed from. In fact, she’d traveled to her homeland just weeks before the fateful day, returning with a videotape of all relatives they hadn’t seen in years, even if it was from a somber funeral.
According to Azuma’s accounts, the then 16-year-old had watched this tape alongside her mother, and all she felt was grief upon seeing her cousin standing next to her aunt’s grave. “I saw (that)… and I realised, ‘Oh my gosh, one day that’s going to be me’,” she conceded in an interview with the Daily Mirror. “Just the thought of losing my mum one day was really upsetting.” Little did she know her worst fears would be realized mere days later, yet not before the family experienced a complex misfortune with their home being burglarized on July 4, 2005.
Gladys was working as a cleaner at University College London when their home was broken into, with the thief taking a lot of cash, their jewelry, as well as the aforementioned videotape. Therefore, in shock, she decided to stay home from her full-time job, her part-time work at a charity, and her night classes for a Housing Management degree for a couple of days. Her first day back was July 7, so at 10 pm the night before, she had stuck her head into her daughter’s room and told her she would leave her keys behind because the teen had lost hers. Azuma’s reply was, “Mum, it’s really late, you’ve got to get up early, see you tomorrow,” unaware she never would.
Azuma Wundowa Still Carries the Grief and Pain of Losing Her Mother
It was at 9:47 am on July 7, 2005, when a number 30 bus was blown up by a suicide bomber in Tavistock Square, almost an hour after the 3 similar explosions on the London Underground. The happily married mother of 2, Gladys, was on her way to work, sitting on the upper deck of the former, when it was intentionally targeted, so she was sadly immediately thrown to the ground. As per reports, first responders as well as members of the public tried to help her to the best of their abilities, but her injuries were too much, and she passed away around an hour later.
However, owing to the chaos of the attack, it took officials a while to identify all the victims, and Gladys’ family only heard of her demise when a list of the deceased was read aloud on BBC News. They had actively been searching for her the entire time until this point, with her husband even going to several hospitals in the hopes of maybe finding her admitted somewhere, but to no avail. Yet, apart from their grief, what pinched them most was that they weren’t reportedly contacted by any family liaison officer before they heard the heartshattering news on national television for the first time.
“I was upstairs in my room and my family were watching the news,” Azuma still remembers. “I just (heard)… all these screams… They got louder and louder. They rose through the floorboards like smoke.” For the then-teen, her mother was her best friend, her biggest supporter, as well as her lifeline, so when she died, a carefree part of her daughter left with her for good. Gladys was everything to her, so even though the now Warley, Essex, resident has evolved into a family woman herself with a 5-year-old named Isaiah, grief is something she still grapples with to this day.
Azuma Wundowa Keeps the Legacy of Her Mother Alive Through Everything She Does
According to Azuma’s accounts, deciding to have a family and being pregnant was difficult because all she could think of was what an amazing grandmother Gladys would have been. Yet, in a complex way, it also made her feel closer to her mother since she realized she was likely experiencing everything the latter had when she was pregnant with her in the late 1980s. Therefore, today, the 36-year-old ensures to keep her mother’s memories alive not only privately in her heart but also out loud by telling her son all about his late grandmother and who she really was.
Coming to her professional standing, Azuma is a woman of many hats. Still, her primary objective is to bring awareness, enhance impact, and fight for lasting change in whatever endeavor she chooses. The London Metropolitan University Events, Music, and Media Management graduate (2010) kickstarted her career back in 2007 with a sales job while she was still studying. Since then, though, she has expanded her wings to serve as a Sales Assistant at John Lewis (2012-2014), Grants Officer at Carers Trust (2014-2016), and Senior Program Officer turned Senior Events Officer at Mind (2016-2020).
Azuma even worked at King’s College London as a Program Officer for Patient Involvement from June 2021 to June 2022 before landing her current job as a Business Change Consultant at Hart Square. As if that’s not enough, the Essex resident is even a published author and public speaker specializing in everything related to grief, trauma recovery, resilience, and motherhood. Her debut book, ‘The Dressmaker’s Daughter’, is something she did to honor her pain by transforming it into something meaningful through her passion for writing. Honestly, with everything this dedicated daughter, sister, mother, and professional has gone through, she seems relatively content with her life is all that matters.
Read More: Louise Barry: Where is the 7/7 Bombing Survivor Now?
